Civil Rights Speech Booed At Civil Rights Game

The fifth annual Civil Rights Game was played in Atlanta this past Sunday, only two days after Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed HR 87 (which was modeled on Arizona's racist and unconstitutional SB 1070), authorizing state and local police to demand immigration papers from people they merely suspect might be undocumented. Any of these suspicious-looking people who are not carrying the proper papers can be arrested and jailed.

One of the non-baseball people honoured over the weekend was guitarist Carlos Santana, who was given a "Beacon of Change" award. I'm sure it's one invitation that Commissioner Bud Selig would like to rescind. Santana addressed the crowd at Turner Field:

The people of Arizona, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

And he was roundly booed by the crowd.

For talking about civil rights on Civil Rights Day before the Civil Rights Game.

(Then again, the home team is called the Braves, and the fans have done the Tomahawk Chop and simulated war whoops/chants for more than two decades, so perhaps ignorance and resistance to equality should be expected.)

A bit later, Santana spoke to reporters in the press box (my bold):

This law is not correct. It's a cruel law, actually. This is about fear. Stop shucking and jiving. People are afraid we're going to steal your job. No, we aren't. You're not going to change sheets and clean toilets. I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy. Who cleans the sheets? Who cleans the toilets? Who babysits? I am here to give voice to the invisible. ...

Most people, at this point, they are either afraid to really say what needs to be said. This is the United States, the land of the free. If people want the immigration law to keep passing in every state, then everybody should get out and just leave the American Indians here.

David Zirin, The Nation:

Where was Bud Selig during all this drama? It seems that Selig slunk out of a stadium backdoor in the 5th inning. If there is one thing Bud has become an expert at, it's ducking his head when the issues of immigration, civil rights, and Major League Baseball collide. If Selig really gave a damn about Civil Rights, he would heed the words of Carlos Santana. He would move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona. ... If Bud Selig cared about Civil Rights, he would above all else, have to develop something resembling a spine.

I searched for any possible video of Santana's comments:

That seemed like a good possibility. But:

(Thanks to Kap Fulton for the heads up on this!)